Ochoku: It's Only Been a Few Days, and You've Taken Ron's Side?

Ron turned around and saw Kaido charging over from the street corner like a gust of wind, a spiked club slung over one shoulder and a pale yellow sheet of paper clutched in his other hand.

"Your wanted poster?" Ron glanced at the familiar layout and casually asked.

"No, yours." Kaido's expression was complicated, filled with envy and jealousy. Then he lowered his voice and asked, "Guess how much?"

Ron considered it. His bounty had previously been less than a hundred million, and the update was most likely because of the Heavenly Tribute heist.

Annika blinked beside them and cautiously raised her hand. "Lord Kaido, can I guess?"

Kaido glanced at her, his tone neither warm nor cold. "Whatever."

Having received permission, Annika immediately began counting on her fingers with great seriousness, quickly making calculations in her head.

She remembered Shakky telling her that on these seas, anyone with a bounty exceeding one hundred million Beli was already considered a great pirate.

But Lord Ron... was only an apprentice.

In Annika's understanding, apprentices aboard pirate crews were generally weaker. Most of the time, they just handled chores and ran errands.

No matter how capable they were, how strong could they possibly be?

"Twenty million Beli?" Annika said earnestly. She had actually wanted to say ten million, but then thought better of it. Overestimating was better than underestimating; how embarrassing would it be if she guessed too low?

Kaido's expression instantly froze. He stared at Annika in disbelief, his mouth opening slightly, then closing, then opening again. With that serious look on her face... was she actually serious?

Annika blinked, frightened by Kaido's reaction. Her voice grew softer. "W-What is it? Don't tell me I guessed right?"

Kaido took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. He finally understood. This woman was purely here to cause trouble.

Twenty million Beli? How much of an amateur did someone have to be to guess such an absurd number?

When he was fifteen, his bounty had already been seventy million Beli.

"That was a very accurate guess," Kaido said expressionlessly. "But... don't guess next time."

Annika's eyes lit up, and she blurted out, "Was I really close? Could it be nineteen million Beli?"

Kaido's mouth twitched. He suddenly lost his calm tone, pulled a stern face, and said word by word, "Stop guessing. Guess again, and I'll beat you to death."

Annika immediately covered her mouth and dared not say another word.

"Heh heh heh..." Ron chuckled beside her and casually said, "No more guessing. Hurry up and reveal it."

Kaido did not say it outright. Instead, he unfolded the wanted poster in front of Ron.

Annika curiously leaned over and read the words on the poster one by one. "Rocks Pirates member... Ron... alias 'Devil Butcher'... bounty, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million, hundred million..."

Her voice grew slower and quieter.

"O-One billion?"

She rubbed her eyes, thinking she had read it wrong.

"Uh... one billion five hundred million Beli?"

Annika went completely still, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide and round.

It was not fifteen million. It was not one hundred fifty million. It was one billion five hundred million!!!!

One billion five hundred million!!!

Annika's mind raced at incredible speed. The senior she considered unimaginably powerful, capable of roaming the seas alone without fear—Shakky—only had a bounty of around seven hundred million.

Yet the man standing before her, a man who was only an "apprentice," had a bounty more than twice Shakky's.

Then what about the full members?

What about the captain?

Annika did not dare think any further. She slowly raised her head and looked at Ron, only to find his expression astonishingly calm.

Annika suddenly remembered something important.

She had once curiously asked Shakky which pirate crew was the strongest on these seas.

Shakky's answer had been: At present, the crew that made the seas tremble in fear was the Rocks Pirates.

"An apprentice alone has a bounty of fifteen Beli. The Rocks Pirates are truly terrifying."

"Shakky said the Rocks Pirates were all ambitious madmen who committed every evil imaginable. But now that I see it, that's not entirely true."

With that thought, Annika's feelings suddenly became complicated.

She was now "kidnapped" by the Rocks Pirates.

With the Kuja Pirates' strength... they could not save her at all.

While Annika was lost in thought, Ron had already put away the wanted poster.

He turned his head toward Kaido. "What? You seem pretty unhappy about this, Kaido."

Kaido looked like a deflated balloon, his shoulders slumping as his voice carried a sour edge. "Those Marines really have no eye for talent... I clearly took part too, so why hasn't my bounty moved at all?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ron lightly added, "It's just a bounty. I have a way to make yours go up."

Ron smiled and started walking ahead.

Kaido froze for a moment, then eagerly chased after him. "Really? What way?"

"Storm the Holy Land of Mary Geoise." Ron's tone was utterly serious. "Walk out alive, and your bounty will definitely rise."

"Go screw yourself. How is that any different from telling me to go die?" Kaido shouted.

"Don't worry about that. Just tell me whether my method works."

"It works. It works perfectly. But you go storm it first."

"I don't need a higher bounty."

After wandering around town for an entire morning, Ron stepped back onto the deck of the secondary ship and saw a familiar figure—one he did not particularly want to see—sitting there.

Ochoku.

Yes, Ochoku had come back.

When he saw Ron return, Ochoku did not react too strongly. He merely sneered and cursed, "Ron, you bastard, you really made me suffer."

Ron glanced at him as though looking at an unobtrusive decoration. He did not even feel like acknowledging him, instead turning to Annika and saying, "I feel like eating chicken today. Hmm... make some poached chicken."

"Yes, Lord Ron!" Annika answered brightly before turning and heading into the cabin.

Ron followed behind her at an unhurried pace.

Kaido carried his spiked club and shouted as he walked, "Poached chicken? What kind of thing is that? Did you invent it? It doesn't even sound good, Ron!"

"What the hell do you know?"

"How do I not know?"

The two bickered their way into the ship, their voices gradually fading away.

On the deck, the sea wind howled.

Ochoku sat on the railing, watching Ron's retreating back as his expression changed several times.

In the end, he gave a few cold, "Heh heh heh," laughs. He did not follow them, nor did he do anything rash.

It was not that he did not want to. He simply did not dare.

The guy who could treat warships like toys and form energy balls with his bare hands... Ochoku knew full well that he was no match for him.

"Ochoku." Whitebeard suddenly spoke in a calm voice. "You'd better not do anything stupid. Otherwise, I won't let you off."

Ochoku's smile stiffened for a moment before returning to that carefree expression. He turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Whitebeard, his tone tinged with indifference. "Huh? Newgate? Even you've taken his side now?"

Before they had set out, his relationship with Ron had been neither close nor distant. Only a few days had passed, and he had already picked a side?

"My business. Stay out of it," Whitebeard replied.

Ochoku fell silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. "Heh heh hahahaha! You really are as unlikeable as ever."

After a pause, he tentatively asked, "But that Ron... where did he abduct a servant from?"

Whitebeard did not respond as expected. He casually said, "If you like them, abduct as many as you want. No one will care."